Immunizations

Health Topic of Interest:  Immunizations are used to prime the immune system of the body to resist a specific fatal or contagious disease.  Illnesses such as pneumonia and measles were once responsible for many deaths and other serious complications in children, however immunizations have drastically improved human mortality and protected against these and other illnesses. 

Personal Connection:  The reason that this topic is meaningful to me has to do with the work I have done in the field of Autism.  For eight years I worked as a behavioral therapist for preschool children with Autism.  About three years into that work, I began hearing about a link of vaccinations to autism.  I was astonished to find that parents (especially those who already have an older child with autism) were not vaccinating their babies because of it.  I just kept thinking, “Really, you would rather your child die of a disease than have a disability?”  As a person who has seen the potential of people with autism to lead a happy, productive life, I just couldn’t understand what these parents were thinking.  I understand that there is a lot of pain, guilt, anger, and need to blame in finding out your child has a disability, but risking death?  So, as I often do with issues that intrigue me, I decided to learn more about the topic.  I found that there was never any medical proof of this to be true.  More recently, we have all learned that it was a complete falsification by an unstable person in the medical field.  How tragic that all of these children are susceptible to deadly illnesses for no reason!

Immunizations around the world:  Immunizations are used globally in almost all developed counties.  However poorer and less developed countries still have higher rates of infant mortality, as health care there is often a lesser quality.

Future Work:  Although I do not now, nor do I ever plan to work directly with babies, my coworkers, parents of my students, and friends know that I am educated in early childhood, and often come to me with questions and advice.  I plan to, as I always have, encouraged everyone to have their children immunized, as to me, not doing so seems quite neglectful!